Br'er Rabbit | Fictional Characters Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [Source] Br'er Rabbit (also spelled Bre'r Rabbit or Brer Rabbit or Bruh Rabbit, with the title "Br'er" pronounced /ˈbrɛər/) is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories of the United States. He is a trickster character who succeeds through his wits rather than through strength, tweaking authority figures and bending social mores as he sees fit. The origin of Br'er Rabbit is linked to both African and Cherokee cultures. Disney later adapted the character for their Song of the South. Disney's Br'er Rabbit appears at Splash Mountain . Contents [ show ] African origins The Br'er Rabbit stories can be traced back to trickster figures in Africa, particularly the hare that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in Western,Central and Africa. These tales continue to be part of the traditional folklore of numerous peoples throughout those regions. In the Akan traditions of West Africa, the trickster is usually the spider (see Anansi), though the plots of spider tales are often identical to those of stories.

Many have suggested that the American incarnation, Br'er Rabbit, represents the enslaved African who uses his wits to overcome circumstances and to exact revenge on his adversaries, representing the white slave-owners. Though not always successful, his efforts made him a folk hero. However, the trickster is a multi-dimensional character. While he can be a hero, his amoral nature and lack of any positive restraint can make him a villain as well. For both Africans and African Americans, the animal trickster represents an extreme form of behavior which people may be forced to emulate in extreme circumstances in order to survive. The trickster is not to be admired in every situation; he is an example of what to do, but also an example of what not to do. The trickster's behavior can be summed up in the common African proverb: "It's trouble that makes the monkey chew on hot peppers." In other words, sometimes people must use extreme measures in extreme circumstances. The American version of the story is said to have originated among enslaved Africans. Br'er Rabbit stories were written down by Robert Roosevelt, uncle of President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography, about his aunt from Georgia, that "She knew all the 'Br'er Rabbit' stories, and I was brought up on them. One of my uncles, Robert Roosevelt, was much struck with them, and took them down from her dictation, publishing them in Harper's, where they fell flat. This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal." These stories were popularized for the mainstream audience in the late 19th century by Joel Chandler Harris , who wrote up and published many of the stories which were passed down by oral tradition. Harris also attributed the birth name, Riley, to Br'er Rabbit. Joel Chandler Harris heard the tales in Georgia. Very similar versions of the same stories were recorded independently at the same time by folklorist Alcée Fortier in southern Louisiana, where the Rabbit character was known as Compair Lapin in Creole French. The stories were retold for children by Enid Blyton, the English children's writer.

The word "Br'er" in his name (and in those of other characters in the stories) reflects the habit of addressing another man as "brother" in many African cultures. While mainstream Americans generally pronounce the second 'r' in Br'er, the African-American pronunciation is "Bruh" or "Buh." When Joel Chandler Harris spelled "Br'er" with an 'er' at the end of the word, he was indicating the Southern pronunciation of the final 'er' as in "brothuh" (brother), sistuh (sister), or faa'muh (farmer). Cherokee origins Although Joel Chandler Harris collected materials for his famous series of books featuring the character Br'er Rabbit in the 1870s, the Br'er Rabbit cycle had been recorded earlier among the Cherokees: The " tar baby " story was printed in an 1845 edition of the Cherokee Advocate the same year Joel Chandler Harris was born. Rabbit and Hare myths abound among Algonquin Indians in Eastern North America, particularly under the name Nanabozho. The Great Hare is generally regarded as the supreme deity among tribes in eastern Canada.

In the Cherokee tale about the briar patch, "the fox and the wolf throw the trickster rabbit into a thicket from which the rabbit quickly escapes." There was a "melding of the Cherokee rabbit-trickster ... into the culture of African slaves." "In fact, most of the Br'er Rabbit stories originated in Cherokee myths." Modern interpretations The Disney Version The 1946 Disney film Song of the South is a frame story based on three Br'er Rabbit stories, "The Laughing Place", " The Tar Baby ", and "Briar Patch". The character of Br'er Rabbit was voiced by Johnny Lee in the film, and was portrayed as more of a "lovable trickster" than previous tales. Disney comics starring that version of Br'er Rabbit have been done since 1945. The Magic Kingdom and Disneyland thrill rides, both known as Splash Mountain , have a Song of the South theme where riders can see Brer Rabbit. Br'er Rabbit also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for meet-and-greets, parades and shows. He also has a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and appears as one of the guests in House of Mouse.

Jess Harnell performed Br'er Rabbit's voice characterizations in Splash Mountain and modern animation. A direct-to-video film based on the stories, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit , was released in 2006. For many years, a popular brand of molasses called "Brer Rabbit" was distributed by Penick & Ford Ltd. The brand is currently distributed by B&G Foods of New Jersey. The 1972 novel Watership Down features the character El-ahrairah, who the author suggests is based on Br'er. In 1981, American composer, pop lyricist and musical auteur Van Dyke Parks wrote a Broadway Musical based on the Br'er Rabbit tales. It was offered as a pop album, but never produced. The 1998 film Star Trek: Insurrection made a reference to Br'er Rabbit. The region of space where the film takes place is called the Briar Patch. While fighting off enemy ships, Commander William Riker said he was going to "use the Briar Patch the way Br'er Rabbit did..." The Philadelphia experimental chamber pop band Br'er is named after Br'er Rabbit. In Oakwood theme park there is a ride called Br'er Rabbit's burrow.

In the popular Hip-Hop band The Flobots, one of Emcees names is Br'er Rabbit. Devin the Dude released a song named Briar Patch. A modern view of the story in R&B/Hip-Hop format. Cowboys and Chuckwagon Cooking : BRER RABBIT Cowboys and Chuckwagon Cooking The preservation of western cultural and the American Cowboy. Sharing the history of the early trail drives, the Chuck Wagon and those who pioneered untamed land. The content is for educational and entertainment purposes. Cowboys and Chuck Wagon Cooking reviews cooking techniques, products and western gear which today is part of western life style. We hope you will enjoy your visit and look forward to comments, recipes and shared heritage. Thank you for your visit. Hope you follow us along the trail of news, stories and the Cowboy way. United States Copyright 2009 - 2017 under title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Saturday, February 2, 2013 BRER RABBIT Molasses has a long history before the cowboys drove the first herds of cattle of early Texas to New Orleans. In 1857, Cowboy J. M.

Cowley of Fentress, Texas stated, "We had to go to the Brazos River to buy corn for cornbread. Beef, Cornbread, Molasses and Coffee was the principal diet in those days, and it was a wholesome diet." Chuckwagon cooks enriched the many staples sweetening the taste using the thick rich syrup, molasses. Brer Rabbit Molasses and Syrups today, continue to give that great taste for sweetening many recipes. Sometimes enjoyed just by adding directly on waffles, pancakes and even one of my favorite breads, Pan De Campo. Just as the chuckwagon cooks did years past on those cattle drive. Brer Rabbit, much like the Cowboy has an interesting history in both American literature and as an emblem for a syrup business dating back a hundred years. Pan De Campo smothered in Brer Rabbit Syrup with Coffee photo Credit: Wayne Hanselka The emblem Hare often a trickster succeeding by wits, though not always successful, are the efforts of Br'er Rabbit and the many stories making him a folk hero.

The character used not only for the fine molasses and syrups, but also in many Disney movies and books, including the stories written down by Robert Roosevelt, uncle to President Theodore Roosevelt, publishing them in Harper's, where they fell flat. This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal with the fictional Tar-Baby in the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881 along with folklorist Alcée Fortier in southern Louisiana, where the Rabbit character was known as Compair Lapin in Creole French. Enid Blyton, an English writer of children's fiction, retold the stories along with the writings of Joel Chandler Harris, as well ethnologist for the Smithsonian Institute, John R. Swanton, who traces the origins of br'er Rabbit back to cultural heritage and stories of early Native American tribes of Creek Indians and Cherokees along with early enslave Africans. Br'er Rabbit and Tar Baby Author, Jace Weaver, "That the People Might Live: Native American Literatures and Native American Community" traces the relationship further about the great hare, Br'er Rabbit which the stories originated mostly in Cherokee myths.

These stories past down around camp fires, heard my early Anglo settlers who migrated to North America from Europe and again past through the generation before becoming the great tales of the interesting Hare. Today, the Brer Rabbit label continues sales through B&G Foods, Inc who purchased the name from Nabisco, Inc in 1997. Although the roots long begin before the 20th century with Penford Corporation of 1896 that moved to Harvey, Louisiana. The monopoly of Corn Products Refining Company (CPR) acquired 25 percent interest in Penick molasses and corn syrup trade. However, in 1913, under Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting campaign, the Supreme Court decision force CPR to divest its interest in Penick and Ford. This interest was bought by F.T. Bedford, the son of CPR’s E.T. Bedford in which the son had a falling out with his father desiring to be in business on his own. Instrumental while working with his father, F.T. Bedford was largely responsible for developing Karo and Mazola brands before forming his own business an created the Br'er Rabbit Label.

An act of Teddy Roosevelt's trade busting, who's Uncle created such great stories of the witty Rabbit would only be appropriate to rebel against the former Syrup empire an once more, see the rabbit out smart the fox. I have to extend some thanks to Calvin Wayne Hanselka, who made that great Pan De Campo Breakfast smothered under the covering of Brer Rabbit "Full Flavor" Syrup and remembering the great tales from the Uncle Remus stories. Pan De Campo Bread made in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven I was honored to meet Calvin "Wayne" Hanselka during the King ranch Hand Breakfast while I was working on the chuckwagon making the fabulous bread that Cowboys enjoyed during the days of the trail drives. It became the official "Bread of Texas" in 200 . Here's the RECIPE for making Pan De Campo. Cowboy Cook Roger Edison, (left) with Dr. Hanselka, PhD Texas A&M (standing right) at King Ranch in 2012. Dr. Hanselka specialized in Ranch Management, Natural Resource, and Cultural Resource Management information. He conducted Consulting, teaching, planning and active management for land managers in both the United States and Mexico.

BRER RABBIT ADVERTISEMENT 1948 Brer Rabbit - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Brer Rabbit Wikis Ananse Brer Rabbit: Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics (Redirected to Br'er Rabbit article) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Br'er Rabbit's dream, from Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation, 1881. Br'er Rabbit (also spelled Bre'r Rabbit or Brer Rabbit or Bruh Rabbit, with the title "Br'er" pronounced /ˈbrɛər/) is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories of the Southern United States . He is a trickster character who succeeds through his wits rather than through strength, tweaking authority figures and bending social mores as he sees fit. The origin of Br'er Rabbit is linked to both Cherokee and African cultures.

Contents 7 External links Cherokee origins Although Joel Chandler Harris collected materials for his famous series of books featuring the character Br'er Rabbit in the 1870s, the Br'er Rabbit cycle had been recorded earlier among the Cherokees. The " tar baby " story was printed in an 1845 edition of the Cherokee Advocate the same year Joel Chandler Harris was born. [1] Rabbit/Hare myths abound among Algonkin Indians in Eastern North America, particularly under the name Nanabozho , 'Great Hare', who is generally regarded as supreme deity among tribes in eastern Canada. "It appears that Joel Chandler Harris, when he wrote them, did not realize that his Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox were originally Cherokee inventions." In the Cherokee tale of the Briar Patch, "the fox and the wolf throw the trickster rabbit into a thicket from which the rabbit quickly escapes" There was a "melding of the Cherokee rabbit-trickster ... into the culture of African slaves." (That the People Might Live : Native American Literatures and Native American Community, p.

4) "In fact, most of the Br'er Rabbit stories originated in Cherokee myths." [2] African origins Br'er Rabbit from The Tar-Baby, by Joel Chandler Harris, 1904. The stories can also be traced back to trickster figures in Africa, particularly the hare that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in Western , Central and Southern Africa . These tales continue to be part of the traditional folklore of numerous peoples throughout those regions. In the Akan traditions of West Africa, the trickster is usually the spider (see Anansi ), though the plots of spider tales are often identical to those of rabbit stories. [3] Many have suggested that the American incarnation, Br'er Rabbit, represents the enslaved African who uses his wits to overcome circumstances and to exact revenge on his adversaries, representing the white slave-owners. Though not always successful, his efforts made him a folk hero. However, the trickster is a multi-dimensional character. While he can be a hero, his amoral nature and lack of any positive restraint can make him a villain as well. For both Africans and African Americans, the animal trickster represents an extreme form of behavior which people may be forced to emulate in extreme circumstances in order to survive.

The trickster is not to be admired in every situation; he is an example of what to do, but also an example of what not to do. The trickster's behavior can be summed up in the common African proverb: "It's trouble that makes the monkey chew on hot peppers." In other words, sometimes people must use extreme measures in extreme circumstances. [4] Br'er Rabbit in Disney's Song of the South (1946). Disney's version of the character is drawn in a more humorous and cartoony style than the illustrations of Br'er Rabbit in Harris's books. The American version of the story is said to have originated among slaves at Laura Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana . Br'er Rabbit stories were written down by Robert Roosevelt , uncle of President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt . Teddy Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography, about his aunt from Georgia , that "She knew all the 'Br'er Rabbit' stories, and I was brought up on them. One of my uncles, Robert Roosevelt, was much struck with them, and took them down from her dictation, publishing them in Harper's , where they fell flat.

This was a good many years before a genius arose who, in 'Uncle Remus', made the stories immortal." These stories were popularized for the mainstream audience in the late 19th century by Joel Chandler Harris , who wrote up and published many of the stories which were passed down by oral tradition. Harris also attributed the birth name, Riley, to Br'er Rabbit. Joel Chandler Harris heard the tales in Georgia. Very similar versions of the same stories were recorded independently at the same time by folklorist Alcée Fortier in southern Louisiana, where the Rabbit character was known as Compair Lapin in Creole French . The stories were retold for children by Enid Blyton , the English children's writer. The word "Br'er" in his name (and in those of other characters in the stories) reflects the habit of addressing another man as "brother" in many African cultures.

While modern Americans generally pronounce the second 'r' in Br'er, the original pronunciation was "Bruh" or "Buh." When Joel Chandler Harris spelled "Br'er" with an 'er' at the end of the word, he was indicating the Southern pronunciation of the final 'er' as in "brothuh" (brother), sistuh (sister), or faa'muh (farmer). Modern interpretations Eatonton, Georgia 's statue of Br'er Rabbit. The 1946 Disney film Song of the South is a frame story based on three Br'er Rabbit stories, " The Laughing Place ", " The Tar Baby ", and " The Briar Patch ". In contrast to character's depiction in the earlier illustrations of Frederick S. Church , A. B. Frost , and E. W. Kemble , the Br'er Rabbit of the Disney film is designed in a more slapstick, cartoony style. [5] Disney comics starring that version of Br'er Rabbit have been done since 1945. [6] The Magic Kingdom and Disneyland thrill rides, both known as Splash Mountain , have a Br'er Rabbit theme.

Brer Rabbit also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for meet-and-greets, parades and shows. He also has a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit , and appears as one of the guests in House of Mouse . In 1975, the stories were retold for an adult audience in the cult film Coonskin , directed by Ralph Bakshi . A direct-to-video film based on the stories, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit , was released in 2006. For many years, a popular brand of molasses called "Brer Rabbit" was distributed by Penick & Ford Ltd. [7] The brand is currently distributed by B&G Foods of New Jersey. The 1972 novel Watership Down features the character El-ahrairah , whom the author suggests is based on Br'er. In 1981, American composer, pop lyricist and musical auteur Van Dyke Parks wrote a Broadway Musical based on the Brer Rabbit Tales. It was offered as a pop album, but never produced. The 1998 film Star Trek: Insurrection made a reference to Br'er Rabbit.

The region of space where the film takes place is called the Briar Patch. Whilst fighting off enemy ships, Commander William Riker said he was going to "use the Briar Patch the way Br'er Rabbit did..." The Philadelphia experimental chamber pop band Br'er is named after Br'er Rabbit. In Oakwood theme park a ride is called Br'er Rabbit's burrow. In the popular Hip-Hop band The Flobots , one of Emcees names is Br'er Rabbit. The Tar Baby Main article: Tar baby The tar baby was a trap – a figure made of tar – used to capture Br'er Rabbit in a story which is part of American plantation folklore. Br'er Fox played on Br'er Rabbit's vanity and gullibility to goad him into attacking the fake baby and becoming stuck. A similar tale from African folklore in Ghana has the trickster Anansi in the role of Br'er Rabbit. In Southern black speech in the 19th century, the word "baby" referred to both a baby and a child's doll. Thus, the expression "tar baby" meant a tar doll or tar mannequin.

The story was originally published in Harper's Weekly by Robert Roosevelt; years later Joel Chandler Harris wrote of the tar baby in his Uncle Remus stories. The phrase is considered by most Americans to be an ethnic slur. Although sometimes misunderstood to be made-up, words such as "copperosity" and "segashuate" used in The Tar Baby are representative of the African-American vernacular pronunciations of the words "corporosity" and "sagaciating." [8] See also Stories of Fables 2 STORIES OF “FABLES” What sparked my interest in the ballet “Fables for Global Warming” was certainly the opportunity to collaborate with an artist of of Karol Armitage’s caliber and the exciting possibility to marry the wisdom of the ancient fabulists with contemporary ‘Prinicples of Sustainability’ in a stage work. Having recently completed a compendium of “International Fables for Children” and advising Dr. Michael Ben Eli and his Sustainability Lab, on a documentary featuring a sustainable Bedouin desert community in the Negev the subject “Fables for Global Warming” seemed to go hand in hand with what I had been researching.

The work will highlight a vision of the future, in which all living creatures can thrive, without destroying the planet’s ecosystems and without adversely affecting others. It is something very new and different, designed to entertain and intrigue audiences of all ages. THE GLOBAL FABLE – A BRIEF HISTORY Katharina Otto-Burnstein The fable is perhaps the most enduring form of folk literature – a moral tale designed to teach, to warn, to offer critique or predict the future. In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the training exercises in prose composition and public speaking. Students would be asked to recite fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer speeches. The need for a wide range of fables for their declamations resulted in the first fables collections, like those of Aesop, who is credited as the “father of the ancient fable”. Little is known about Aesop; he is assumed to have been an Aethopian slave working in the household of the Greek Philosopher Xanthus on the island of Samos around 600 BC.

Legend has it that Aesop was given his freedom and acted as an emissary between the Samians and King Croesus. He later travelled to the courts of Babylon and Egypt; and was sentenced to death by the people of Delphi, whom he angered greatly by telling critical, disapproving fables. Although none of his writings have survived, he is credited with the majority of known fables, which were gathered and translated into multiple ancient languages either in verse or in prose. Already Sophocles, in a poem addressed to Euripides, made reference to Aesop's fable of The North Wind and the Sun. Around 420 BC, Socrates, while in prison, turned some of the Aesop fables into Greek verse. The early Roman playwright Ennius rendered a few Aesop's fables in Latin verse. But the first comprehensive collection of fables, gathered and translated into Latin, originated with Phaedrus, a freedman, in the 1st century AD and Babrius, who turned the collected fables into Greek verse. Aesop's Fables were not only confined to ancient Greece and Rome.

For example many of the Buddhist Jataka tales, written around 400 BC and some of the fables in the Indian Panchatantra have been influenced by Aesop. India has a rich tradition of fabulous novels, mostly explainable by the fact that the culture derives many of the traditions from the natural habitat. Most of the gods are some form of animals with ideal qualities. Hundreds of fables were composed in ancient India during the first millennium BC, often as stories within frame stories. These included Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra, the Hitopadesha, Vikram and The Vampire, and Syntipas' Seven Wise Masters. In Europe it was Marie de France and the Jewish poet Berechiah, who ensure the continuation of the fable tradition throughout the middle ages. Around 1160, Marie de France, the earliest French female poet translated Aesops Fables into Anglo-Norman French and added multiple new ones, mostly dealing with the subject of purity and love, which she set to “lais” – verses sung to music. Marie de France is the “nom de plume” of a lady writer, who was evidently proficient in Latin and English as well as in French.

Little is known about her, but she was probably born in France and lived in England during the late 12th century at an undisclosed court. She is believed to be the half sister of King Henry II of England. Hundred years later, in Provence, the Jewish poet Berechiah became the author of a set of several hundred fables, called Mishle Shualim, (Fox Fables), which derived from Berachyah's own inventions, from Aesop's fables, the Talmud, and the Hindu fables. In addition, the collection contains fables conveying the same plots and morals as those of Marie de France, Berechiah's work also added a layer of Biblical quotations and allusions to Aesop's tales, adapting them as a way to teach Jewish ethics. A handwritten manuscript of his fables still exists in Munich written around 1268. About 400 years later, in 1967, an English translation by Moses Hadas appeared on the bookshelves, entitled Fables of a Jewish Aesop, which has recently been republished by David R. Godine, publishers.

During the 17th century, the French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine saw the soul of the fable in the “moral” — a code of behavior. Starting with the Aesopian pattern, La Fontaine dedicated his first of six books to the young Dauphin, the future king Louis XIV, to educate the young boy and prepare him for life at court. In further books, La Fontaine added his own set of fables to further satirize the court, the church and the rising bourgeoisie. La Fontaine's model of using the fable as a form of social criticism was subsequently emulated by fabulists across Europe. Among them: England's John Gay, Poland's Ignacy Krasicki, Italy’s Giovanni de Rossi, Serbia's Dositej Obradović, Spain’s Tomas de Yriate and Russia's Ivan Krylov. In modern times, the Western fable has been fully adapted to both children’s and adult literature. Felix Salten's Bambi, the story of a protagonist's coming-of-age, is cast in the form of a fable.

James Thurber used the ancient fable style in his books Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time. Władysław Reymont's The Revolt, a metaphor for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, describes a revolt by animals that take over their farm in order to introduce "equality." George Orwell's Animal Farm similarly satirized Stalinist Communism in particular, and totalitarianism in general, in the guise of animal fable. In the 21st century the Neapolitan writer Sabatino Scia is the author of more than two hundred fables he describes as “western protest fables”. The characters are not only animals, but also Things, Beings and Elements from nature. Scia’s aim is the same as in the traditional fable, playing the role of revealer of human society. The African fable-telling tradition also dates back thousands of years. These stories were originally passed down through oral tradition and eventually written down. Until this day the country of Ghana stages annual fable telling contests, where people from across the continent gather to compete as storytellers. African fables do not only include animal characters, but also plants and earthly structures such as rivers, plains and mountains.

Most popular are the humorous Anansi trickster fables, that use animal characters with human features to convey folk wisdom and to help us understand human nature and human behavior. Anansi tales are best-known in West Africa. Anansi, the half human spider god originated with the Asante people of Ghana and is synonymous with skill and wisdom in speech. His tales crossed to the Caribbean and other parts of the New World with the Atlantic slave trade. The Caribbean Anansi is often celebrated as a symbol of slave resistance and survival. Anansi is able to turn the table on his powerful oppressors by using cunning and trickery. Anansi is also believed to have played a multi-functional role in slaves’ lives; to inspire strategies of resistance against their owners and to establish a sense of continuity with their African past. Anansi shares similarities with the trickster figure of Brer Rabbit, brought by enslaved Bantu to the New World. Like the Anansi stories, Brer Rabbit is a physically small and vulnerable creature using his cunning intelligence to prevail over larger animals.

A predominantly African American folk hero, Brer Rabbit’s tales entered the mainstream through the work of the white American journalist Joel Chandler Harris, who wrote several collections of Uncle Remus stories between 1870 and 1906. Curiously the Brer Rabbit tale ‘Tar Baby’, well known from the 1946 Disney movie Song of the South, can be found not only in the Anansi fables, but also in the Native American Cherokee fable, entitled "Tar Wolf". Trickster characters are found in nearly every tradition among the Indians. The Zuni tribe of Arizona have a Tarantula as their trickster while most other Southwestern and Plains tribes use the Coyote. The people of the Northwest coastal tribes have the Raven and the Eastern woodlands use the Rabbit or Fox. Glooskap, a character from the Northeastern areas, is sometimes used as the trickster and sometimes as the hero. In any case, these stories usually give us a pretty good idea of the infrastructure of the tribe and it’s native habitat. Native American fables come from all parts of the country and are as varied in content as the weather and terrain. There are four major categories that can be identified.

The Trickster fables, the “Pourquoi” tales, which explain why things are the way they are. Myths and Prophesies; and Creation fables. All tribes have their own versions of the creation of the earth, depending how different tribes lived in different parts of the country. For example the Hopi and Navaho of the Southwest could not have lived in tipis because the hide coverings were not available nor would they have provided adequate protection from the heat. Similarly, the peoples of the Northeast woodlands could not have hunted buffalo because there were none in that region. Eastern Woodland, Plains, Southwestern and Northwest Coastal tribe stories tell us of the days before there were horses and how they hunted buffalo with dogs carrying their belongings. Many of these tales were used as much for entertainment as for explaining the way things were and the way things should be; a common thread that ties all fables together into one global message. People all over the world have the same basic values, hopes and aspirations. We all want to sustain our indigenous habitat and understand the world around us, so that we can understand our place in it. With the collective knowledge of the people from whom we are descended, we begin to have a better understanding of ourselves.

Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Hall of Fame Honorees Joel Chandler Harris At thirteen Joel Chandler Harris, the chronically shy, red-headed illegitimate son of an Irish day-laborer, left the home he shared with his impoverished mother and began his to-be-illustrious career as a typesetter's apprentice on a plantation newspaper near Eatonton. After the Civil War, his work as a typesetter and book reviewer led to editorial positions on papers in Forsyth, Savannah, and ultimately the Atlanta Constitution. At the Constitution Harris began writing sketches in a rendition of African-American dialect from which sprang the "Uncle Remus" character with which he is popularly associated. Harris wrote for the Constitution for twenty-four years, from 1876 to 1900. Between his career there and his death in 1908, he produced six novels, a biography, a history of Georgia, a translation of French folktales, six volumes of children's stories, and seven volumes of short stories for adults.

Except for a few months in New Orleans, Harris's entire life and career was spent in his native Georgia, from which flowed his novels of plantation life and Reconstruction, as well as his history of the state and a biography of Constitution editor Henry W. Grady. Ultimately Joel Chandler Harris's work led to his election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1905, where he was chosen to be a charter member of an elect pantheon of American writers along with the likes of Mark Twain, Henry James, and Henry Adams. Although critics continue to scrutinize and argue over Harris's work, particularly his portrayal of African Americans, the popularity of his Uncle Remus tales has persisted for over a hundred years, through numerous editions, reprintings, retellings and adaptations. Harris thus justifiably has been called "a catalytic agent of prime importance in the history of the Afro-American short story." 1 1Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 91: American Magazine Journalists, 1900-1960 . A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Sam G. Riley, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The Gale Group, 1990. p.

148. Bibliography The following titles may be found in the Hall of Fame Library: Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings. New York: Appleton, 1881. Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation. Boston: Osgood, 1883. Mingo and Other Sketches in Black and White. Boston: Osgood, 1884. Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches. New York: Scribners, 1887. Daddy Jake The Runaway and Short Stories Told After Dark. New York: Century, 1889. Balaam and His Master and Other Sketches and Stories. Boston: & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. Balaam and His Master and Other Sketches and Stories. London: Osgood, McIlvaine, 1891. A Plantation Printer: The Adventures of a Georgia Boy During the War. London: Osgood, McIlvaine, 1892. On the Plantation: A Story of a Georgia Boy's Adventures During the War.

New York: Appleton, 1892. Uncle Remus and His Friends. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1892. Little Mr. Thimblefinger and His Queer Country: What the Children Saw and Heard There. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1894. Mr. Rabbit at Home: A Sequel to Little Mr. Thimblefinger and His Queer Country. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1895. The Story of Aaron (So Named) The Son of Ben Ali. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1896. Stories of Georgia. New York, Cincinnati & Chicago: American Book, 1896. Georgia from the Invasion of De Soto to Recent Times. New York: D. Appleton and company, 1896. Sister Jane: Her Friends and Acquaintances. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1897. Aaron in the Wildwoods.

Boston & new York: Houghton Mifflin, 1897. Tales of the Home Folks in Peace and War. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1898. Plantation Pageants. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1899. The Chronicles of Aunt Minervy Ann. New York: Scribners, 1899. On the Wing of Occasions. New York: Doubleplay, Page, 1900. Free Joe, and Other Georgian Sketches. New York: International Association of Newspapers and Authors, 1901. The Making of a Statesman and Other Stories. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1902. The Making of a Statesman and Other Stories. London: Isbister, 1902. Gabriel Tolliver: A Story of Reconstruction. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1902. Wally Wanderson and His Story-Telling Machine. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1903. A Little Union Scout.

New York: McClure, Phillips, 1904. The Tar-Baby and Other Rhymes of Uncle Remus. New York: Appleton, 1904. Told by Uncle Remus: New Stories of the Old Plantation. New York: McClure, Phillips, 1905. Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit. New York: Stokes, 1907. The Bishop and the Boogerman. New York: Doubleplay, Page, 1909. The Shadow Between His Shoudler-Blades. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1909. The Kidnapping of President Lincoln: and Other War Detective Stories. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1909. Uncle Remus and the Little Boy. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1910. Daddy Jake the Runaway, and Short Stories Told After Dark, by "Uncle Remus." New York: Century, 1910. Uncle Remus Returns. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1918.

Uncle Remus and His Friends; Old Plantation Stories, Songs, and Ballads, with Sketches of Negro Character.illustrated by A.B. Frost. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin. 1920. The Witch Wolf: An Uncle Remus Story. Cambridge, Mass.: Bacon & Brown, 1921. On the Plantation; a Story of a Georgia Boy's Adventures During the War. Illus. by E.W. Kemble. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1929. Harris, Joel Chandler with Julia Collier Harris, ed. Joel Chandler Harris: Editor and Essayist. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1931. Tales from Uncle Remus. Illus. by Milo Winter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1935. Brer Rabbit; Stories from Uncle Remus. Adapted by Margaret Wise Brown, with the A. B. Frost pictures redrawn for reproduction by Victor Dowling. New York; London: Harper, 1941. Qua: A Romance of the Revolution. Thomas H. English, ed.

Atlanta: The Library, Emory University, 1946. Seven Tales of Uncle Remus. Thomas H. English, ed. Atlanta: The Library, Emory University, 1948. The Favorite Uncle Remus. Illus. by A. B. Frost. Selected, arr. & ed. by George Van Santvoord and Archibald C. Coolidge. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1948. Harris, Joel Chandler and Compiled by Richard Chase. The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955. Uncle Remus. Illus. by A. B. Frost. Introd. by Stella Brewer Brookes. New York: Schocken Books. 1965. Free Joe, and Other Georgian Sketches. Ridgewood: N.J.: Gregg Press 1967. Gabriel Tolliver; a Story of Reconstruction. Ridgewood: N.J.: Gregg Press, 1967. Uncle Remus; Tales. Selected and introduced by John Tumlin. Savannah: Beehive Press 1974.

Free Joe: Stories. Selected and introduced by John Tumlin, Savannah : The Beehive Press, 1975. Stories of Georgia. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1976. On the Plantation: A Story of a Georgia Boy's Adventures During the War. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1980. Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-lore of the Old Plantation. Atlanta, Ga.: Cherokee Pub. Co., 1981. Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings. New York: Penguin Books, 1982. Uncle Remus Stories. Overland Park, Kan.: Scott Free Press, 1983. Dearest Chums and Partners: Joel Chandler Harris' Letters to His Children: a Domestic Biography. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1993. Evening Tales Done into English from the French of Frederic Ortoli. New York: Scribners, 1893. OTHER: Uncle Remus's Home Magazine. Atlanta, Ga., Sunny South Publishing Co. Additional Links

Question: Brer Rabbit stories originated as Cherokee myths but which author compiled the Brer Rabbit stories?
Answer: JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS